UCPD created 'no-fly zone' DuBose drove through

UC Police Chief Jason Goodrich speaks during a 2014 press conference announcing the new public safety team, which was part of pending reform in the wake of Sam DuBose's shooting death during a routine traffic stop.(Photo: Enquirer file/Carrie Cochran)Buy Photo

Former University of Cincinnati police Chief Jason Goodrich described his approach to off-campus policing as creating a "no-fly zone," according to his officers.

He promoted boosting the number of traffic stops, calling it a method of "crime displacement" theory. He wanted to make the area around the Uptown campus a place criminals wouldn't want to drive through.

Soon, there would be nearly five times as many traffic stops and citations in neighborhoods around UC than before he became chief in November 2014. By last spring, officers were making 14 stops a day.

On July 19, Samuel DuBose was passing through Goodrich's “no-fly zone." His life ended at a traffic stop when UCPD Officer Ray Tensing shot and killed him.

That's the narrative contained in a review of UC's policing released Thursday by the university, which had hired the consulting firm Exiger to conduct it.

"It was clear that Chief Goodrich embraced the aggressive use of such stops as part of his policing philosophy, that he communicated this philosophy in manifold ways to his officers (supervisors and rank-and-file alike), and that this precipitated the spike in traffic stops leading up to the shooting death of Samuel DuBose," the review concluded.

It also describes Goodrich and a top lieutenant as "untruthful” in the wake of DuBose's death about whether they had embraced an aggressive use of off-campus traffic stops.

Goodrich acknowledged during the review that some of his officers might have been racially profiling motorists.

The problem was a lack of oversight and an accountability system, as well as gaps in leadership and management, said Robin Engel, UC's vice president for safety and reform whose position was elevated after last summer's tragedy.

“This is a national issue," Engel said. "We need to make sure when we have policing strategies, they are reviewed by multiple individuals and a system of accountability and oversight is put in place.” She said President Santa Ono was not available, so she was speaking on behalf of the university about the Exiger review of UC policing.

DuBose's death galvanized community members and the Black Lives Matter movement locally, spawning both protests and a robust local discussion about police-community relations in Cincinnati.

"It's not a surprise that they had called for stepped up harassing in working-class communities surrounding the university and it's also not a surprise that they lied," said Brian Taylor, one of the organizers of Black Lives Matter Cincinnati.

He said the review doesn't capture the whole picture, however.

“The city and UC administration would like to have people believe they found the essence of the problem and this is something of the past,” Taylor said. “That escalation doesn’t let off the hook the fundamental problem and the reason why someone like Samuel DuBose gets profiled, whether it's UC police or CPD or departments that are part of greater Cincinnati."

Report findings and police leaders' responses

Both Goodrich, and former police Major Tim Thornton resigned on Feb. 26, the same date Goodrich had a final interview with Exiger investigators. In that last talk, the chief was confronted with inconsistencies between his earlier statements to administrators and investigators and subsequent findings by Exiger following a review of police records and interviews with UC police personnel.

Goodrich told Exiger that day some of his officers were "clearly off mission" and "fishing for stuff" in traffic stops.

"He ultimately acknowledged that stops were a 'common theme' in his conversations with supervising officers who reported to him, and that it was 'probably' a fair assessment that he promoted traffic stops as part of a balanced approach to policing," the report states.

"When the Exiger team described the almost universal perception within UCPD that the Chief instigated a policy of aggressive off-campus traffic stops, and that he expected his officers to engage in such stops, Chief Goodrich concluded that he must have failed in communicating his message of 'balance' – that it got 'lost in translation.'"

The conduct of Goodrich and Thornton had become a separate investigation under the review this winter, after interviews with rank-and-file UCPD officers and documents couldn't be reconciled with statements from the two top cops.

The chief had told four top UC administrators, including Ono, he not only knew nothing about increased traffic stops, but also that he was unaware such stops were being made. Yet records reviewed by Exiger showed Goodrich had received daily management reports that included data on the traffic stops.

Thornton also saw reports on officer activity, including traffic stops, but said he never examined the data.

When Engel confronted Goodrich with data that showed "notable disparities, especially in some officers, between black and white drivers," Goodrich suggested that his own officers "might be profiling" black drivers.

The UCPD's reliance on traffic stops spurred a decision by Goodrich to order two new motorcycles for a dedicated traffic unit. UCPD bought the motorcycles but abandoned the idea of using them for traffic stops after DuBose's death.

Both Goodrich and Thornton referred to their failure to see problems with the traffic stops as a "blind spot." Thornton insisted that Tensing and a "clique" of outlier officers were the ones making frequent stops.

It was when UC administrators confronted the police leaders with the discrepancies in information that they "elected to resign from their positions,' Engel said.

The former UC police officer at the center of the case, Tensing, is charged with murder in the shooting. Tensing's attorney maintains he was dragged when DuBose tried to drive away. An independent report into the incident found that the car accelerated only after DuBose was shot and his foot pressed down on the gas pedal.

Traffic stops more than tripled after Goodrich was named chief in November 2014, according to the review. During the two months before the July 2015 shooting death of DuBose, UCPD traffic stops hit an all-time high, an average of 412 stops per month compared to 87 per month before Goodrich arrived the previous autumn.

"Traffic stops are not the problem here," Engel said. "They can be used in combination with other strategies as a crime prevention effort when they are not used solely or abused."

The problem at UC last year, she said, was the implementation and lack of oversight. There must be data-driven and evidence-based reviews that are very specific and targeted to the reduction of a particular crime problem, Engel said.

That's why UC created two new director-level positions in the Department of Public Safety after the DuBose shooting, she said.

Engel said those directors provide “additional oversight with substantive expertise” to make sure the department is “policing in a manner that’s both effective and equitable.”

We're seen as potential criminals

Black Lives Matter member Taylor doesn’t believe an increased police presence in the racially mixed neighborhoods surrounding UC prevents crime in a way that’s beneficial to the community.

“It never works out in our favor,” he said. “It opens the door for the type of brutality that happened with Sam DuBose, and we’re seen as potential criminals.”

He said society is capable of creating better ways to make students feel safe than the "so-called policing" enforced by UCPD.

The reason off-campus policing patrols expanded was because it was clear the Cincinnati Police Department couldn't provide the proper level of safety and security for students, faculty, staff and residents by itself, so now they work in partnership, Engel said. Since DuBose's death, the university has continued to engage in off-campus patrols -- minus conducting traffic stops. The neighborhoods are seeing a 10-year low in the number of reported crimes, she said.

"The crime prevention efforts are working," Engel said. "Right now, UCPD is not engaging in proactive traffic stops, and we're still seeing a significant reduction in crime around campus."

UC now is conducting a national search for Goodrich's successor. UC Director of Public Safety James L. Whalen is serving as the interim chief of UCPD.

Despite her views on the success of the patrols, Engel acknowledged off-campus policing remains an issue for the community that "certainly needs to be addressed."

The trust between a university, its leaders and the heads of its police department is imperative, she said.

But, Engel said, that honest and transparent relationship extends beyond UC to and trust needs to be “re-established.”

“This is about our community," Engel said. “We need to make sure we have built a system of accountability that there is an integrity in our process and procedures moving forward.”